Monday, February 18, 2013

Just like in the song, I feel like for the past year I have been on a train, perhaps not a passenger train like the City of New Orleans but a very, very long freight train. When we finished the book, we started to move this train at a snails pace. As days turned into weeks and the weeks became months, we gathered speed and now we are we appear to be flying ten feet of the ground. Things are happening so fast I hardly have time to sleep, eat or shower. Don't get me wrong, I'm seeing results but for every step I now take in the right direction and I seem to move back two.

I was somewhat prepared as to what was expected for a self-publisher. It turned out there was so much more they never told me ahead of time. My biggest handicap is the fact that I am not a software man, I was educated as a hardware geek. Now I know why people would stand and stare at me years ago when I carried on a conversation with another hardware engineer. Must have all sounded like a foreign language. To give you an example, we are trying to set a live show on Google+. The gent that is given the lessons does not realize that we need IT Jargon 101 first. After about 45 of trying to get on his show, and please don't ask me how I managed to get there, he started by telling me that my lower third was not set up. Now my lower third is my legs and they seem fine to me. So now he has to backtrack and tell me that I should have my name, company affiliation, national origin, my oldest child's first name, sorry just kidding, at the bottom of my screen. OK, at this point we are going to go and we will be back next session and you can start out at the beginning, like say first grade and let me learn. People have to understand that not everyone speaks Geek. But having said all that, we are making progress. We have selected a name for our domain www.slushheap.com. OK, OK I hear the snickers in the room. There is a purpose for all this. During that session I just spoke about, I did learn that when you pick a name it should be the same for all the web sites you will create. Ha ha, what a joke. I was told to go to www.namechk.com and find a name or ID that is available for all the services I will be subscribing to. A URL, Facebook, a Blog, Twitter, Google+ and who knows how many more things. I sat there for 4 hours and plugged in names only to find that they were taken. To make things more interesting I was told: 'Keep the name simple, no more than 12-14 letters. Makes it easier for people to remember'. So I enlisted the services of my son Jeff, who had just come down this weekend for some R&R. Now Jeff has had a knack for something all his life. Create a company or business and he will come up with a cool name and slogan. I would refer to him as an 'Inovator'. I put him to work. So he says to me, how about slushpile? Slushpile, what the hell is that. He explained it to me and the search was on. After a few rejections we found slushheap and book'em, Danno.

So what is slushheap mean? Well I'm glad you asked:

Slush Heap- where you get the help and advice you need to
avoid the slush pile

OK, you got that now? What is a slushpile?

Slush Pile – where all
the manuscripts that are rejected or never read go.

So what does your slushheap do for me? Beside keeping you up to date on our endeavor, it will keep you entertained. If you happen to think about writing a book, want to edit books, illustrate books, publish books or become a critic we can do much more for you.

Promote: share your insight, worth, and expertise with
those who value it most

Inquire: ask questions directly to those most likely to
have the answers

Learn: obtain the knowledge you need to make your project
a success

Expand: use this as your opportunity to reach new
professional heights

And pray tell how will that happen?

Here's where our new weekly Internet show on Google+ will help. But then I'm getting ahead of myself.

We are currently working on setting up the show up, getting the right personnel, a good time slot and some props. Most of all we have to practice to make it right.

So stay tuned and we will keep you up to date and hopefully very soon give you a Preview date. Thanks for hangin' in there with me.

Just one more thing. Any of you who have purchased the book and may have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I will personally answer them and once the show starts we will answer them on the air.

Friday, February 8, 2013

It has beenalmost two weeks since the book went to Amazon.com and was published as an eBook. All in all the progress is going as expected. Sales are coming in, problems are being discovered and reported and finally fixed. For the first time publishing anything I think we are ahead of the Boeing 787. At least the book hasn't been grounded. Having accomplished this much takes a large weight off of my shoulders. But, we are not home free. You see during the last 9 months of writing this blog a trend has developed. The good and the bad thing about blogs is that everything is tracked. The number of hits, where they originate from, etc. At first I was surprised that visitors to my blog were primarily from Eastern block countries and Asia. Who am kidding. Although I did not necessarily intend these to be my intended readers, they were the source of my writings. Once word got out that the book was published, I started to hear from people I had never met. Most of the questions were standard, nothing I could not or should not answer.

Now that the book is out almost 75% of my blog readers are from Russia or China. I'm sure the people who are reading this were not even born at the time it all came down. They are just trying to find out the truth just like the people in the Western World. Question is: "Can they handle the Truth?"

So now it's crunch time. Get back to work on Volume II. Although the material for this volume is less bothersome for me it does present problems within its contents, I am no longer in a "sterile" environment, miles removed from the action I came to explore but now it is hands on. Facing the enemy and all they they could do to stop us. It was not what I had volunteered for but nevertheless it was my duty to perform my tasks.

Besides writing the next chapter I also have to make arrangements to have the book produced in hard copy. I have had many request for appearances at book clubs here in Delaware, signed copies and even my presents in class rooms to enligthen the children.
So for a few moments I will enjoy the tranquility that has come to our house and then on with the new chores.

I want to thank all the people who have purchased the book. I really appreciate your support.I do ask that you might take a moment and write up a little something to give me feedback. Thanks again.

About Me

From the time of my childhood with my Oma, it has been
instilled in me that Fate or Destiny was to be my guiding light my entire life.
To further cement this believe into my soul, some years ago a friend recruited
me to aid him in a project he was working on. It was not the object of this
project that fascinated me as much as the little booklet he printed and packed
with the object. In short, the title of the booklet was ‘The pyramidal threat
of life’. It was his believe that each of us was a threat in the tapestry of
life. We, the threat , were pulled off some huge spool and inserted into the
weaving machine. From that moment on we would cross paths with many other
threats. We, as a threat, would break and be repaired to continue on our way.
At some point another threat would intersect hours and we would be knotted
together to continue our joint venture. We had tight the knot. Unfortunately
all threats end at some point and we are left behind, perhaps forgotten, or we
could have made an impressive statement with our threat that we would go down
in history.

There was something missing to me. I searched for some time
and finally realized that to little emphasis was placed on the ‘spool of
threat’ we came from. This spool used to contain the threats of our ancestors,
who, through the makeup of the material of the threat had left us with their
character and hence the threat that still remained on the spool was that of my
future generations who would inherit the trades of my ancestors and those I
would pass unto them

So no matter what I did or didn’t do, my legacy will always
be a part of my tapestry of life. Whether anyone would see it and interpret it
cannot be said for certain. No matter, we are all there for history, preserved
forever .This book, placed in the darkest corner of a library, covered with
spider webs will still bear witness to the deeds a few did for the many.